How Romanesco cauliflower forms its spiraling fractals
The swirling green cones that make up the head of Romanesco cauliflower also form a fractal pattern — one that repeats itself on multiple...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
Sea otters stay warm thanks to leaky mitochondria in their muscles
Sea otters’ secret to staying warm isn’t in thick stores of blubber. It’s in their muscles. Leaks in the energy-generating parts of muscle cells...
These weird, thin ice crystals are springy and bendy
Try to bend an icicle and it’ll snap in two. With its tendency to crack into shards, ice’s reputation for being stiff and brittle...
How your DNA may affect whether you get COVID-19 or become gravely ill
Some people can blame their DNA for making them more likely to get COVID-19 or becoming severely ill if they get infected. A study...
Human-driven climate change sent Pacific Northwest temperatures soaring
The deadly heat wave that baked the Pacific Northwest in late June would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, an international team...
Souped-up supernovas may produce much of the universe’s heavy elements
Violent explosions of massive, magnetized stars may forge most of the universe’s heavy elements, such as silver and uranium. These r-process elements, which include...
A tweaked yeast can make ethanol from cornstalks and a harvest’s other leftovers
When corn farmers harvest their crop, they often leave the stalks, leaves and spent cobs to rot in the fields. Now, engineers have fashioned...
How antibodies may cause rare blood clots after some COVID-19 vaccines
Some COVID-19 vaccines have been linked to dangerous but incredibly rare blood clots. Now a small study is revealing new details on how those...
A shadowy birthplace may explain Jupiter’s strange chemistry
Jupiter may have formed in a shadow that kept the planet’s birthplace colder than Pluto. The frigid temperature could explain the giant world’s unusual...
How Hans Berger’s quest for telepathy spurred modern brain science
A brush with death led Hans Berger to invent a machine that could eavesdrop on the brain. In 1893, when he was 19, Berger...
A new treatment could restore some mobility in people paralyzed by strokes 
What has Perseverance found in two years on Mars? 
This robot automatically tucks its limbs to squeeze through spaces 
Greta Thunberg’s new book urges the world to take climate action now